The actress followed that by playing aristocrat Audrey, who was forced to sell her country estate following the death of her husband in To the Manor Born.
The last episode of the first series in 1979 received almost 24 million viewers – the highest audience for any non-live event on British TV in the 70s.
Dame Penelope won another Bafta TV award soon after, this time for best actress for The Norman Conquests and Saving It For Albie.
Her other sitcom credits in the 1980s and 90s included Executive Stress, No Job for a Lady and Next of Kin.
The much-loved actress succeeded Laurence Olivier as president of the Actors’ Benevolent Fund after his death in 1989.
This century, working largely in theatre, she played Madame Arcati in a 2004 production of Blithe Spirit and Lady Bracknell in a 2007 version of The Importance of Being Earnest.
She was a made a dame in 2014 for services to the arts and charity.
